The Murder of a Yoga Guru

“The Murder of a Yoga Guru” is the third episode of “Hannah Brown – Transgender Sleuth” series by Yu Sakurazawa.

Transgender sleuth Hannah Brown signs up for a detoxification and rejuvenation program at Ananda Kuteeram, a yoga center headed by young charismatic spiritual leader, Swami Sadananda. During the course of her stay at the ashram, Hannah befriends Natalia Adamovicha, a transsexual woman from Ukraine. Distraught for some reason unknown to Hannah, Natalia abruptly leaves for Kiev.

On the next morning, the devotees of Swami Sadananda find him on the marble floor of his chamber, brutally burgeoned to death. Since the occupants of rooms adjoining the guru’s chamber remained undisturbed through the night, Hannah concludes that the guru was drugged before being attacked with an axe.

The convoluted murder investigation carried out by Hannah points fingers at people as different as chalk from cheese: from a suave Bangalore-based politician to an erudite temple trustee based in Madurai. Mikhail Adamovich and Oleg Chaplanski, the brother and husband of Natalia respectively, also come under the radar of Hannah’s suspicions.

From the beginning of the case, Hannah has suspected that the distinctive gender identity shared by her and Natalia is connected to the god man’s gruesome murder. Will Hannah Brown succeed in decoding the cryptic psychology of warped human minds and get to the bottom of the mystery of Swami Sadananda’s murder?